


The New Father

by rasberry_not_raspberry



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Angst, Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Dehumanization, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, bruce purposefully acquires children, david cain's A+ parenting, except it's not accidental, in the sense that Cass considers herself a tool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 01:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30131670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rasberry_not_raspberry/pseuds/rasberry_not_raspberry
Summary: David Cain is sick of Cassandra's attempts to run away and her refusal to kill, so he pawns his daughter off to the nearest buyer: Bruce WayneCass wants to be a good tool for her new father so he doesn't hurt her, but she can't figure out what he wants from her.
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Bruce Wayne, Cassandra Cain & Everybody
Comments: 14
Kudos: 149





	The New Father

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is pretty much canon divergence in every sense of the phrase lol. The three oldest batkids are already part of the Batfamily although at much younger ages, Jason's not dead, Cass is obviously not homeless, etc. etc. 
> 
> Cass is about nine years old in this fic.
> 
> Also I noticed that this fic is loosely reminiscent of [Scrub-A-Dub](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29173941) by [Iselsis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iselsis/pseuds/iselsis), so I'm going to assume that I was inspired by it haha. You should definitely read that fic if you like any of the themes in this story!

Her new father was very strange. He was nothing like her previous father who had always wanted _more-violence, more-strength, more-stamina_. The girl watched her new father very carefully, trying to find his motivations, his desires, but Batman was good at keeping his true emotions hidden. The only thing she could see was _gentleness_ and _stress_ and _caring_. She didn’t understand what he wanted her to do.

“Cassandra.” The man knelt in front of her. He was trying to appear small to her, like she was a wounded animal. He thought that she was a wounded animal that might run away. He didn’t want to scare her. 

She would only be scared if he made her kill again. She would hurt him if he wanted her to kill again, but thankfully he didn’t seem to want that from her and so she didn’t need to hurt him. 

“My name is Bruce.” The man put a hand on his armored chest over the picture of the bat. He was saying that his name was Bruce, but she already knew that his name was Batman. Her previous father had told her that when he had told her that he had sold her. He had also told her everything that the Batman was capable of doing to those that displeased him. She would not displease her new father. 

The Batman would probably want her to fight his enemies. She would do that as long as he didn’t want her to kill. The thought of watching somebody else’s life force drain away at her own hands _again_ made her nauseous.

“Your name is Cassandra.” He gestured towards her, but there was no ill intent. 

He was saying that word that her father had used when he’d been selling her to her new father. Cassandra.

She could see that names were very important for Batman. She would try to remember all the names that he taught her. She already knew two: Bruce and Cassandra. 

“Can you say it? Cassandra? _Cass-an-dra_.” The man sounded it out. He wanted her to make the mouth sounds too, but she couldn’t make them the same way that the others did.

She’d tried to make the mouth sounds once before, but all that came out was meaningless gibberish. Her previous father had smacked her and told her to stop pretending to be human. Would her new father be upset if she couldn’t make the mouth-sounds? She would need to practice more.

“Let me try, Bruce!” Another person said. He was _excited-excited-excited_. “Hey, Cass! My name’s Dick! Can you say Cass? Cass!” The person was a boy-man, somewhere in between. Black hair, blue eyes, black mask, red-green suit. His name was Dick. 

“For pete’s sake, Dick-” Another boy, even younger, pushed excited-boy out of her direct line of sight. “You’re going to scare her.” This boy was more like her. He was nervous around Batman too, like he didn’t know him as well as excited-boy. He was angry too. Not angry at her, just angry in general. Maybe angry-boy was a tool like her. 

“How old is she, Bruce?” Dick asked. He was requesting information about her. Dick liked her like she was a pet. He wanted to pick her up and make her less scared. She didn’t understand. She hoped Dick didn’t pick her up. 

“A little older than Jason. Maybe eight or nine? Her biological father wasn’t sure.” Batman was angry at somebody. Not her and not Dick. 

“Miss Cassandra has had a wearying day, I’m sure,” said the oldest man. He was _caring-exasperated_ and the girl liked him a lot. He would never hurt her. She could see it in his arms and in his careful eyes. “Perhaps I can show her to her room.”

Batman stood up and she stood up too because he wanted her to come with him. Batman looked at her surprised. Her new father didn’t know that she understood him then. That was confusing because if he didn’t know that she could understand everybody then why had he bought her from her previous father?

“Would you like to go to bed now, Cass?” Batman’s voice was _soft_ and _caring_. He was still talking to her as if she were a wounded animal, but she didn’t think that she minded very much. Maybe she was a little bit like a wounded animal. His voice felt nice and warm.

“She’s probably hungry,” Angry-boy ( _Jay-son?_ ) said and put a hand on his stomach. The girl kept her face very still just in case this was a test, but she hoped that they gave her food.

“Of course. Follow me, Miss Cassandra.” The old servant wanted her to follow him up the stairs and out of the big Cave that Batman lived in. The girl looked at Batman and he nodded at her, so she walked up the stairs.

There was a house at the top of the stairs. Except there were too many doors and hallways, so maybe it wasn’t a house. At least not the kind of house that people lived in. The servant led her out of the study and to a very clean, very shiny kitchen.

“Do you have a preference of what you would like to eat, Miss Cassandra?” The servant asked and gestured around the kitchen. The girl didn't know if she was allowed to answer somebody that wasn’t her new father, but Batman would probably want her to respect the servant. He was a more established part of her new father’s family after all.

She shook her head. The servant did not get mad at her. Batman, appearing in the doorway, did not get mad at her. She had done the right thing.

“Very well then, Miss Cassandra.” The servant kept repeating her new name over and over again as if he were trying to make her remember it. She knew her new name, she just couldn’t say it.

Dick and Jason had not joined them in the kitchen and the girl was very happy. Less people meant less confusion. She always got confused when there were a lot of people in one room and she wasn’t sure whose desires she was supposed to follow.

She could hear footsteps coming. Clumsy, soft footsteps, like a child.

“Ah, Master Tim, you’re just in time,” the servant said. He ladeled hot red soup into large bowls and put them on the counter, three of them. “Come to check in on our latest addition?” 

There was a baby in the doorway. He was too skinny, but she could still see the baby fat clinging to his limbs and face. Maybe four years old? Or five? The baby didn’t know why she was here and he was confused and scared. She liked the baby though. Babies never knew what she was capable of and so they couldn’t make her do terrible things. 

“This is your new sister, Cass,” Bruce said. He was feeling things: _love-love-love_ , but Cass couldn’t figure out who the love was directed towards. At the baby? At her? His emotions were confusing and the girl looked back at the baby so she didn’t get overwhelmed. “Can you say hello to Cass?”

“Hello, Cass,” the boy whispered shyly. The baby was speaking to her and he wanted her to respond. She wanted to respond. She wanted to make the baby happy. 

The girl looked at Batman, and Batman was _encouraging_. He wanted her to make the mouth sounds. She didn’t want to say more gibberish and get slapped. But she raised her hand in greeting. The boy grinned.

Batman was pleased at her gesture. Maybe he wanted to see if she could understand their human speech. She would have to impress him so that he treated her well and didn’t hurt her. She raised her hand at him as well. Batman was even more pleased.

“Cass, this is Tim,” Batman said. Baby-Tim. Tim-Baby. 

“Please eat,” the servant said and moved a bowl of soup closer to her. He was full of good intent. The soup was not drugged. Batman also wanted her to eat, so the girl picked up a spoon.

The soup was very good and very hot, and she felt like somebody had put a blanket on her, but from the _inside_. Her shoulders shrunk in as she scraped her spoon against the bottom of the bowl, and she felt her eyes prickle with fatigue the longer they sat there. Would Batman let her sleep or would she need to prove herself now? Her previous father always made her fight at night so that she wouldn’t depend on being well-rested.

“The child is falling asleep where’s sitting, Master Bruce,” the servant said, and the girl wondered why everybody kept calling Batman, Bruce. Should she also call him Bruce or Batman? Maybe her father had been wrong and this was Bruce and not Batman. Except he was wearing Batman’s clothes. She was so tired that her thoughts didn’t make sense.

Bruce moved closer to her and she would’ve leapt away from him except that he was being _protective-loving-gentle-soft-kind_ , and she was too tired to stop him from sweeping her into his arms.

Nobody had ever carried her like this. Not in their arms like she was something precious that couldn’t be hurt.

One time her leg had been broken in training and her father had carried her to her room after splinting it. He had carried her over his shoulder. This was much nicer. She didn’t feel like a tool. She felt like a baby, but in a good way. 

They were walking up more stairs. Bruce must be a very rich man to have this many staircases. Baby-Tim had stayed in the kitchen with the servant. They were all acting so strange to her. She could feel their wariness, their carefulness, and she didn’t understand. Wasn’t she their new weapon? They should know that she wouldn’t hurt them. They were her new father and new brothers. She had to obey them. 

But they weren’t acting careful like she might hurt them. They were acting careful like they might hurt her, which was even stranger. They should know that nobody could hurt her. She was too strong and too quick-

A yawn broke through her thoughts, and there was a deep rumble that she barely recognized as Bruce laughing. She closed her eyes. Bruce wouldn’t hurt her. He would let her sleep. She could feel it in his strong arms. He was a good father and he took good care of his tools. 

The light behind her eyelids faded as Bruce carried her into a dark room, and then there was a lurch and he was placing her on something so soft and clean and deep- a bed! Her very own bed! She’d never had her own bed before.

The girl didn’t have time to be excited though, because the darkness of sleep was creeping in and she didn’t have any reason to stop it from taking her. Right before she fell asleep she felt Bruce breathe a farewell against her forehead and press something soft and warm against her forehead. A kiss. 

That was weird. Why did he kiss her forehead? Her previous father had never kissed his tools before. Maybe the new father would be different. Maybe this was the kind of place where tools got kisses and food and beds. 

The girl didn’t think about it for very long before she fell asleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! This was my first fic in a long time, so even though it's not perfect, I'm just glad to get something finished haha. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
